A Change To Change It All
by meggle la muggle
Summary: When Draco is attacked in his sixth year at Hogwarts, he is visited by Loki, the god of mischief. Draco is the only one who can see Loki, who stays by his side and gives him advice that helps him completely turn his life around. Gone, is the old Draco who cowered in his father's shadow. The new Draco does what he wants, when he wants, how he wants, and no "Dark Lord" can stop him.
1. Prologue

Prologue

I'm not sure how much of what I write is accurate to the original stories, but in this, Loki is based off Loki from the Marvel universe. If I make any mistakes, I apologise in advance. Please let me know, and I'll do my best to rectify it as far as the story line will allow.

The Harry Potter characters and events are based off the books, not the movies, purely because I know the books better. As I said before, please point out any mistakes that you spot, and I'll do my best to rectify them.

I very much appreciate constructive criticism, so please leave a review! As always, all characters belong to Marvel and JK Rowling… blah, blah, blah… they're not of my own creation…. yadda yadda yadda… okay enjoy!

Draco Malfoy, only five years old, dropped the jigsaw pieces in his hand as he heard the door handle rattle. He quickly got up from the floor and hid behind his mother, who calmly walked towards the door, brandishing her wand.

The door burst open, and in came a tall, thin man with white blonde hair and pale gray eyes. He smiled warmly as he saw his wife approaching.

"Hello dear. I wonder, where could my little dragon be?" Lucius chuckled, as he saw Draco peeking out from behind his mother's skirt. Instead of going over to them, he began to look around the hall, as if searching for something.

"Is he down here?" Lucius wondered aloud, bending down to look under the table, "or perhaps under the cha-"

Lucius was cut off by his son running towards him as fast as his little legs could carry him. Lucius scooped him up in his arms and spun around while the little boy giggled as he made roaring noises.

"Look Mum! I'm a dragon! Roooooooooar!" Draco yelled as his father continued to spin around and around.

Lucius eventually stopped spinning and went over to greet his wife while still carrying little Draco.

"Oh dear, his getting bigger every day! You've got to stop feeding him all those vegetables, or he'll grow even taller than me!" Lucius complained, winking at Narcissa.

"No! Dad I need to be taller than you so I can beat Blaise! He bet three knuts that he'll grow up before I grow up! Three whole knuts! That's heaps!" Draco exclaimed, waving his arms about wildly in the air.

Lucius pouted.

"But I don't want you to grow up." He grumbled, "You're perfect this way. You're fun sized!"

"But Daaaaaaaaaaaad! I need to be taller so that Pansy will let me have a go on her broom! She says I'm too short for a broom, because I'll just fall off." Draco whined

"Well then, we'll just have to get you your very own broom, now won't we." Lucius mused. Draco gasped.

"Really? I can have a broom all for my very own! For me?" Draco blurted out, now obviously very excited.

"Okay honey, you can go to Diagon Alley first thing tomorrow morning, okay? For now, I think it's time for bed." Narcissa said, shooting a pointed look at Lucius.

"But Muuuuuuuuum!" Draco whined again

"No 'but's, off to bed. I'll be there in a minute so I can tell you a bed time story, how about that?" Narcissa said.

"Okay!" Draco yelled happily as he ran to his room to get ready for his story.

Narcissa turned back to Lucius.

"Was that really necessary?" Narcissa demanded tiredly

"What?"

"He's five, are you sure he's ready for a broom?"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure it's safe and that he doesn't go too crazy."

Narcissa hummed, not convinced as she made her way towards Draco's room, where her son was eagerly awaiting his story.

Narcissa gently pushed the door open to find Draco already in bed, propped up by his pillows as he hugged his stuffed dragon excitedly. She walked towards the bookshelf and ran her fingers along the books, speaking gently as she moved.

"What shall we read tonight?" she murmured. She paused in front of a book, "Ah, I know."

Narcissa picked out a thick, leather bound book with golden pages that shimmered in the light. Inside, pictures of humans, gods and elves ran about the pages, charging into battle, dancing, joking around.

Draco frowned in puzzlement. He hadn't seen this one before, but nonetheless he sat up to listen when his mother cleared her throat, as she always did when she was about to tell a story.

"This is the story of two princes, who were also brothers." Narcissa began, "The younger one was bold, strong, brave, and valiant, loved by all in the realm for his heroic deeds and friendly demeanour. The older one was sly, cunning, witty and jealous. Many didn't like him because of all the tricks he played on them.

The two brothers were always fighting, as they were always arguing over the tricks the older brother played. The older brother thought they were funny, and that there was nothing wrong with them, but the younger brother always told him that his tricks were mean, and that was why no one liked him.

The older brother grew to hate almost everyone in his family, because his father, King of the realm, decided that the younger brother should be king, not the older brother. He grew meaner and meaner every day, until one day, the king decided that he had had enough, and so he locked the older brother away. Only his mother went to visit him, feeling pity for her son. But soon enough, even she could not stand him any longer.

As time went on, the older brother grew lonelier and lonelier, with no one to talk to. One day, a guard came up to his room to tell him that his mother had been killed by an evil elf in an attack on the city. The older brother was horrified that she had died, and felt awful that the last thing he said to her had been an insult. He threw all the furniture at the walls and broke everything he could in his rage. He spent days and days lying alone in his room among the broken furniture, neither eating nor sleeping until one day, his younger brother came to him.

He had been in many battles since his mother's death, trying to find the evil elf, until finally he had a plan. But he needed his older brothers help to get out of the city undetected, or else their father would surely stop him from going. The older brother happily helped get them out of the city, and helped avenge his mother's death. The evil elf was dead.

This was the story of the two gods. Thor, the younger brother, was the god of thunder, and Loki, the older brother, was the god of mischief. The end."

Draco smiled and snuggled down under the covers. Just as Narcissa was about to leave, Draco piped up.

"Mum?"

"Yes dear?"

"What happened to Loki after he helped Thor? Were they friends again?"

"That's a story for another time. Go to sleep now dear"

"Okay. Goodnight Mum"

"Goodnight Draco"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The rest of the story will be based from 6th year onwards, beginning in the following chapter with the sectumsempra scene. Again, I don't own any of the characters, the Harry Potter characters are based off the books and Loki is based off Marvel. There will be the violence that comes with the sectumsempra scene in this chapter, though not much. Still, if this makes you uncomfortable, feel free to skip ahead.

As usual, please leave any constructive criticism you might have and let me know if you spot any mistakes. Enjoy!

~oO0Oo~

Draco looked across the hall to see Potter talking to Katie Bell hurriedly. He felt his stomach drop. Potter must have felt his eyes on him as he looked up, making eye contact with Draco for a split second, before Draco, paler than usual, turned on his heel and ran.

What had he done? He made a mistake. They made a mistake. They shouldn't have chosen him. They _knew_ that he didn't know what he was doing. They were going to kill him. They were going to kill his family. He was going to be forced to kill his family, and then himself. They were going to skin him alive. He was going to die he was going to die he was going to die.

These thoughts raced through his head as his feet took him to the only place where he felt safe, that he could talk to somebody and not worry about who they were going to tell. As he raced towards the girl's bathroom on the third floor, that last word echoed through his head. Die.

He sprinted through the door and practically collapsed before the mirror, his pale fingers clutching at the porcelain sink, as one would clutch at a raft on a sinking ship. Tears streamed down his face as he sobs racked his body, the sink supporting almost all of his weight under his shaking arms. No one came to comfort him, as Myrtle had gone down the pipes. He was completely and utterly alone, and not just in the physical sense. In fact, not in the physical sense at all.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching from behind him.

He looked into the mirror, hopeful that he would see the pearly sheen of Myrtles reflection floating behind him, ready to listen to his troubles, but his eyes darkened as he saw Potter walking in, wand pointed at his back.

Rage filled every ounce of his being as he grabbed his wand and lashed out, firing off the first spell that came to mind. He turned and darted behind the stalls. He would not, could not, allow Potter to take his life away from him.

He and Potter duelled, dancing in and out between stalls, firing off spells where they could, running where they couldn't, until eventually, Potter caught him out.

"Sectumsempra!" Potter yelled, and Draco fell to the ground, limp.

Potter ran over as blood began to ooze from all over Draco's body. He then swung around in panic as he heard the footsteps of professor Snape approaching. Snape observed the scene, then rushed to Draco's aid, performing healing spells as quickly as possible.

Potter turned and fled.

~Oo0Oo~

White.

That's all Draco saw as he lay on the ground, staring up at the ceiling. Then, things began to come into focus. He found himself in the hospital wing, feeling dazed and aching all over. He tried to sit up, but found that he couldn't.

"Ah, you're awake" an unfamiliar voice stated, sounding pleased with himself.

The face of a boy, about the same age as Draco appeared above him. He had pale skin, slicked back black hair and green eyes. His pointed nose and high cheekbones gave his face the appearance of being somewhat aerodynamic.

Draco attempted to sit up yet again, failing just as much as the first time.

"No, don't try to move or anything." The boy stated coolly, "You'll only hurt yourself more than you already have. Would you like a drink?"

Draco tried to open his mouth to answer, but the boy quickly clapped his hand over his mouth.

"No, don't go trying to talk. You'll sound like a half dead toad trying to sing opera. Blink once for no, twice for yes." He said

Draco did his best not to look offended and blinked twice. It's probably best to be on good terms with the person who is, apparently, looking after him. He wondered what had happened to Madame Pomphrey.

The boy slowly and carefully poured the drink into his mouth, chattering along as if he did this every day.

"I suppose you'll be wanting to know what happened. Potter attacked you, Snape took you here, Madame Pomphrey healed you and she's in her office now. Boring." The boy stated matter-of-factly.

Draco looked at him quizzically. Boring? What does he mean boring? He nearly died!

"Oh, don't be so melodramatic. It wasn't that bad. Anyway, that's nothing compared to me. I'm not actually here you see."

Draco blinked. Draco did not see.

"Oh, I'm here, just not here to anyone else. You're the only one that can see me. So I am here, but also not here."

So Draco did see. He could see the boy. Which was really the problem, essentially. His eyes widened. Had he gone mad? Was this his fate? Would he spend the rest of his life rambling about the boy with green eyes in St Mungos? Draco began to panic.

"Calm down. It's not you, it's me." the boy smirked, sensing Draco's panic. "I do exist outside of your head, you know. It's just that I am not visible to others."

Draco looked puzzled.

"I'm Loki, by the way. Nice to meet you."

Suddenly, it all made sense.

The stories. The stories his mother told him as a child. They were all true. All of it! They were real! The gods, the mortals, the elves, everyone! Loki, the god of mischief was standing at his bedside! That's why no one else could see him. Because he's the god of mischief.

Draco was about to say something, he wasn't sure what, when Madame Pomphrey burst into the room.

"You're awake! Good, good, that's good. Let's have a look at you then." She mumbled to herself as she strode over to the bed. She pulled back the blankets and checked his bandages.

"Why, it's a miracle! You should be as good as new in no time." She comments as she takes the bandages off.

"You'll need to take your medicine twice daily," she told him as she pushed a bottle of pills into his hands, "and minimal exercise. That means no quidditch!"

Draco yet again tried to move, and yet again failed.

"Ah, yes, I almost forgot! Finite Incantatem. There, you should be fine now." She said with a smile.

Draco slowly sat up and cautiously began to move. All _seemed_ to be in order, so Draco muttered a quick "thank you" (which did indeed sound like a dead toad trying to sing opera) before hurrying out the door with his medicine.

He paused, as he realized that he was being followed. He turned around to find Loki standing behind him, nonchalantly inspecting his nails.

"So, where are we going then?" Loki asked merrily.

"Bed." was Draco's grumbled reply. He was going to have a _long_ sleep. He could deal with the god walking behind him in the morning.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N

Sorry that I'm updating inconsistently. I've just started Year 12, so I'm going to have quite a bit of homework. The good news is that school holidays start next week, so I'll hopefully have some sort of schedule set up then. Meanwhile, I don't own any characters, if you don't know what I'm about to say, just look at this part of the last two chapters. This chapter, we're finally out of the introduction stage and the main plot has finally commenced. Yay!

Chapter

"Wake up" Loki said as he pulled back Draco's curtains.

Draco groaned and rubbed his eyes. Who was waking him up this early? Then he remembered the events of the previous day. He bolted upright, staring at Loki, as if to ensure that he didn't vanish when he blinked.

"So it was real. It wasn't all a weird dream." Draco murmured to himself in awe

"Yep. Now get up, because we've got some work to do." Loki replied nonchalantly.

Draco looked at him quizzically. Work? What work?

"Well, you can't go out looking like that. Not to worry. I'm here to save you. Come on, up you get." Loki explained, before quickly turning around and rummaging through Draco's closet.

He came back with Draco's uniform, as well as quite a few random items that Draco knew that he didn't have, and didn't wat to know where Loki got from.

~oO0Oo~

"I look ridiculous" Draco muttered, tugging at his sleeve.

"Sorry, I do believe you mean amazing" Loki smirked

Draco stood awkwardly in front of the mirror in the bathroom. He wore a black leather jacket over his white uniform shirt, which now hung loosely on his frame due to an extension charm. His Slytherin tie hung crookedly around his neck, and his newly dyed, bright blue hair hung messy and untamed. He stood in black skinny jeans and wore black canvas shoes in his feet.

"My father is going to kill me" Draco moaned as he picked at his hair.

"Yes well, someone's going to kill you no matter what you do, so you may as well have some fun before they do so." Loki reasoned.

Draco paled. He knew he was probably going to be killed, considering it was a _war_ , and people tend to be killed in wars, but he hated to hear it so openly confirmed like that.

Loki noted this and rolled his eyes.

"Look, we all know that you're going to die, it's basically a fact by now. Your life will be so much easier if you just accept this and do your best to do everything you want to before you die." Loki explained.

Draco looked at him strangely. Was that supposed to make him feel better? Because it really wasn't working.

"That brings me to my next point! You need new friends. We both know that you don't want to kill Dumbledore, or be a Death Eater, and your current "friends" will try to convince you to do it, consciously or not." Loki stated happily, using quote fingers at "friends".

Draco blinked at him. he knew it was true, but he wasn't really prepared to do that just yet. They weren't even Death Eaters yet, maybe they had a chance… he knew he was grasping at straws, but he simply didn't believe that he could face this "new life" Loki had planned for him alone.

"So, what we're going to do is, when you walk into the Great Hall this morning, you will make a huge entrance. You know, swing a few swords, light some tables on fire. You know, that kind of thing." Loki explained.

"No. I'm not even going to try to justify this to you, but we're not lighting anything on fire." Draco demanded. Loki pouted.

"Okay, just the swords then." Loki pleaded.

"No, I refuse to swing swords at people just for an entrance." Draco stated

"Please?" Loki begged. Upon seeing Draco's look of disdain, he finally conceded.

"Fine, but it'll be your own fault if you don't make friends. What's your plan then?" Loki asked sulkily.

"I… I guess I'll just… umm… see who the first person who approaches me is." Draco stammered.

"Yes, that's it. The very first person who is nice to me after this point will be my friend from now on." Draco exclaimed, grinning at his plan. It's obvious that his friends would be the first to say something, considering he shared a dorm with them, so he could keep his old friends! Who was this Loki guy anyway? Draco could do all that himself, but better. Or so he thought.

He strode out of the bathroom and into his dorm with an air of confidence. He'd show Loki that his friends were good people. He'd…

"Draco what the hell are you wearing?" Blaise laughed as he spotted Draco.

"It looks like you ran through a muggle town, stealing random clothes off every person you saw." Goyle chuckled.

Draco's stomach dropped as he heard a camera click. This was not going as planned.

"What happened to your hair mate? It looks like you tried to eat blueberries with your head." Crabbe exclaimed, then paused. "Did you? I tried that once. It didn't really end well, and…"

Crabbe stopped talking after a look from Blaise.

"The point is; you can't go out looking like that. You'd bring down the reputation of the whole group." Blaise explained, clapping a hand on Draco's shoulder. Draco brushed his hand off.

"I guess it's a good thing I'm not a part of the group anymore then." He snarled. He then turned on his heel and left.

He stormed out of the Slytherin common room and into the halls, stomping his way to the Great Hall, when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Oh, hello Draco," a light, tinkling voice called from behind him.

He turned around to find Luna Lovegood sporting the strangest pair of glasses he had ever seen, and wearing radishes on her ears. This was the most normal he had ever seen her.

"You look quite lovely today. Is there a special occasion?" Luna mused lightly.

Draco was about to spit out some hateful retort when Loki appeared in front of him.

"Remember? You have to be friends with her now, she was nice to you." Loki smirked, seeing that this was obviously not what Draco had intended in making the rule.

Draco paled, then carefully collected himself. Looney Lovegood? Loki was making him stick with Looney bloody Lovegood? This day couldn't get any worse. Still, Draco did his best to make himself smile, or at least not look like he wanted to die.

"Umm… no. No occasion. Just felt like changing things up a bit." Loki said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, well that's nice for you. I always felt that you dressed a bit too stiffly, you always looked quite uncomfortable." Luna said calmly. Draco was about to insult her back, when she added quite nonchalantly, "Oh, and hello to you too Loki. I'd appreciate it if you would stop trying to see through my glasses, it's quite uncomfortable."

Draco gaped at her.

"You can see him too?" Draco exclaimed. Loki seemed equally surprised, though hid it better than Draco, who had an imminent need to pick his jaw up off of the floor, should he not want to swallow any flies.

"Well, not really. But I can sense his presence." She said, before turning to face Loki's general direction, though missing by a few inches. Loki stepped towards where she was looking to help her out. "You, sir, have quite a few nargles drifting about your head. You should try wearing some radishes, they really do help keep them away."

Draco looked at Loki quizzically, but he just shrugged.

"So, are we off to breakfast then? I do hope they have pancakes this morning." Luna asked, turning back to Draco like she did this every day.

"Umm… well… I do like pancakes, I suppose…" Draco muttered as he trailed after Luna in a daze, a normal reaction for anyone who had just had a conversation lasting more than two minutes with Luna Lovegood.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N

Hi everyone! In order to celebrate 1,000 views (and also because I've been lazy and owe you all a chapter), here is Chapter 3! As usual, I don't own any characters from either universe, and please feel free to correct me on any mistakes I make by writing a review. If you just liked the story, send a review too. And if you just hated the story, guess what? Send a review too and tell me why and how I can improve! Thanks everyone! :)

~oO0Oo~

Draco sat down with Luna at the Slytherin table in a daze. How could she see, sorry "sense", Loki? More importantly, why didn't Loki know the answer to this? How is any of this happening? Why does he trust Loki so much? He just met him! For all he knows, he could be some other guy who just happens to be called Loki, and had nothing to do with the god of mischief.

Draco was distracted from his spiral into despair by a plate of pancakes sliding in front of him.

"You said you like pancakes." Luna mused, passing him maple syrup, oblivious to the stares that the two of them were receiving, Luna for being at the Slytherin table making conversation with Draco Malfoy of all people, and Draco for his drastically changed attire.

Draco absentmindedly began eating his pancakes, muttering a "thank you" as he did his best to ignore the stares as Luna did, though he failed miserably, his face now as red as the infamous Weasley hair.

An awkward silence settled over the two as they ate their breakfast. As Draco was deliberating how best to ask Luna about Loki, Luna turned to him, pulling off her glasses.

"You're probably wondering how I can sense Loki." Luna stated. Draco nodded in agreement, doing his best to look nonchalant about the topic, though looking a tad too enthusiastic to successfully pull it off.

"I think it's better if I show you. Here, try these on." Luna passed Draco the strange glasses. Draco looked at her incredulously. He was going to look ridiculous. But then again, it wouldn't be that strange compared to his current attire. Draco sighed and put them on.

Draco's jaw dropped, making Luna giggle, as he swung his head around wildly, trying to take everything in. All around the room, strange creatures whirred about in every direction, flying to and fro fast enough to mistake them for flies, especially with their small size. They were strange, bug like creatures that looked like a cross between fairies and aliens, with long, pointed ears that stuck straight up like antennas. The creatures seemed to be flying in every direction, but Draco noticed that they were also gathering in groups around to people's heads, though some more than others.

"Nargles" Luna murmured, as if that explained everything. Draco took off the glasses and handed them back to Luna as they were beginning to give him a head ache. Draco blinked as the creatures had disappeared, though he now realized that they hadn't disappeared at all, he just lost the ability to see them.

"What…" Draco paused. What exactly was he going to ask her? What were those things? Why couldn't he see them anymore? How did the glasses help him to see them? A thousand questions buzzed through his head. Luna's light laughter led him to look up at her quizzically.

"Calm down," she laughed, "the nargles are swarming around your head."

Draco began looking around, paranoid, and began swatting at the air, no hitting anything, causing Luna to laugh even more.

"Don't worry about them, they can't do anything to you. They just give me an idea of what people are thinking and how they're feeling. Quite useful actually. I've noticed you've been pretty stressed lately. It must be all the work you've been doing for the death eaters." Luna mused, causing Draco to gape at her.

How could she know? He had only hinted at it to his friends in Slytherin, and none of them would betray him, least of all to Luna of all people. And more importantly, how could she stand to be near him, knowing what he was and what he had to do? Especially as she and her family clearly stood for the light side and were considered to be blood traitors.

"You know, you're only making it worse for yourself." Luna said calmly.

What? Making what worse? By doing what? Was she talking about the death eaters? About his family? About the task? What?

"The nargles are basically calling you their new home now. Maybe you should calm down a little. Deep breaths and all that."

Draco paused and did as he was told, taking a few deep, calming breaths before resuming his previous activity of staring at Luna in confusion.

"Let me explain everything. I can sense Loki because of all the nargles around his head, though they act interestingly around him. I can sense that he tries very hard to be cool, but in reality, he's scared. He's trying to help himself recover by helping you. I don't know what from though. Maybe it has something to do with how he got here. It probably involves a spell that binds him to help you, considering his sudden appearance after a possibly traumatic experience, and that you come from an old, pureblood family, who would have access to such spells. There's an article on those spells in the Quibbler in issue 27, page 5. Quite interesting really. Here, read it some time." Luna handed him a copy of the Quibbler happily.

"Anyway, I know that you're a Death Eater now because I can see the nargles reacting to the Dark mark. They're attracted to it because they feed on confusion and negative thoughts, feelings and actions. That's why the schools infested with them. And I can read people's emotions by following the reactions the nargles have to that person. There's a section on how to read nargles behaviours in page 8 of issue 32 of the Quibbler too, if you'd like to have a read. It also comes with a free pair of Spectraspecs." Luna once more rummaged through her bag, producing yet another copy of the Quibbler, this one with a pair of glasses matching Luna's tucked carefully behind the first page.

"And I don't mind that you're a Death Eater because I know that you haven't done anything horrible intentionally yet, though I have noticed that you feel guilty about something that you did by accident and regret immensely. I hope I didn't miss anything you wanted to know, but the nargles have spread out a bit more from your head, so I suppose that I haven't. We should get to our classes by the way, they're about to start" said Luna, standing up and grabbing her bag. Draco looked around, finally noticing that most of the students had finished their breakfast already and were heading to class. Draco quickly shoved the copies of the Quibbler and the spectraspecs into his bag, before hurrying to charms, which they had with the Gryffindors.

This was going to be a long day.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't updated in a while, I just got _really_ side tracked. Hopefully I'll be updating more consistently in the future. Anyway, none of this belongs to me except the story line etc. you know the drill. Happy New Year!

~oO0Oo~

Draco walked into potions, having regained his confidence and gotten used to the stares that he was getting. He sat down at the front of the room, away from where his old friends usually sat, and pulled out his book, ready to begin. He was eager to see how the lesson would go, now that he could concentrate on doing well in a subject that he enjoyed, rather than thinking about people seeing him as nerdy or something.

The room was filling up quickly, until the seat next to his was the only one left empty. This was because they had potions with the Gryffindors, who wouldn't sit next to him because of his past treatment towards them, and the Slytherins no longer associated with him.

Professor Slughorn bumbled into the room, greeting everyone as he made his way to the front. He managed to hold himself back from gaping at Draco's changed demeanour, and resorted to staring a little longer than usual, which Draco was grateful for. At least he wasn't bringing extra attention to him. Neville was not so lucky.

He had burst through the door, out of breath and red in the face seconds after Professor Slughorn had made it to the front of the room.

"Ah, Neville! Good to see you made it lad. Take a seat, take a seat. We were about to begin." Slughorn called cheerily, before turning around to write something on the board.

With an embarrassed expression, Neville looked around, paling upon the realisation that the only seat available to him was next to Draco.

Draco was about to plaster his usual snarky smirk onto his face until he heard a rather loud cough that no one else seemed to notice. He looked across to see Loki nonchalantly leaning back in Professor Slughorn's chair, balancing it on two legs, looking pointedly at Neville.

Draco sighed, then did his best to look his least threatening as Neville took his seat. He then resorted to spending his time listening to Professor Slughorn's cheery instructions on how best to make a shrinking solution, taking down notes as he spoke.

Professor Slughorn told them to pair up and start working on a shrinking solution, and Neville looked around the room desperately searching for someone else who he could work with, anyone but Draco. But no one was to be found, so Neville turned slowly and fearfully back towards Draco, who was inspecting his nails as he waited for Neville to come to the same conclusion that he had, that they would have to work together.

"I'll grab the daisy roots, shrivelfigs and caterpillars if you grab the rat spleen, leach juice, cowbane and wormwood." Draco offered, and then got up out of his seat to get the required ingredients before the Gryffindor could respond, which was just as well as Neville seemed to be lost for words. He then realized that he should get the ingredients before Draco got back, and almost knocked over his chair in his haste to do so.

Draco took his time collecting the ingredients, as he wasn't looking forward to working with Neville while he obviously feared him, so he resolved to talk to the boy in attempt to lessen his fears, even a little. He sighed and made his way back to the table, where the other boy was already sitting with the ingredients he collected ready.

When Neville saw him approaching, he immediately reached for the Shrivel Figs to begin juicing them, but Draco reached out his hand to stop him. Neville flinched, then looked confused as to what he could have done wrong before they had even started.

"Hey Neville, hold on, can I talk to you for a moment?" Draco asked wearily, painfully aware of the conversation about to take place. Neville nodded mutely, not trusting himself to speak.

"Look, I know that I've been quite harsh to you in the past, and I understand that you don't trust me. I honestly can't blame you. But I really think that it was all just a huge misunderstanding on my part. Would it be alright if we could, perhaps, start over?"

Upon seeing Neville's incredulous look, he hastily added, "I understand if you don't want to. I mean, really I haven't given you any reason at all to trust me and I'm really, really sorry for that and-"

Draco stopped mid-sentence upon the realisation that he was babbling. He looked at Neville pleadingly. Neville looked at him suspiciously, but eventually broke into a nervous grin.

"Alright then" Neville agreed, stretching out his hand for Draco to shake "Hi, I'm Neville"

"Hi Neville, I'm Draco" He replied as he shook his hand gratefully. With that out of the way, Draco began chopping the daisy roots as Neville began juicing the Shrivelfigs. And so they worked like that, in a comfortable silence, broken only to help each other with the steps, slowly but steadily making their way through the steps until finally, the potion was complete, giving off an acid green sheen that indicated that the potion was complete.

By the time the bell went to indicate the end of the lesson, they had organized to do the essay set as homework together in the library on Wednesday night, and agreed to work together in future lessons.

Walking out the door, Neville was quickly whisked away by the other Gryffindor's, promptly putting an end to the conversation they were having about which ingredients worked best in a draught of living death. Neville sent Draco an apologetic smile, which Draco returned with a friendly wave, then made his way down to the dungeons with Loki skipping by his side. Draco looked around the corridor to make sure that it was empty before he addressed Loki.

"What makes you so happy?"

"Nothing. It's just good to know that you actually listen to me." he grinned, "Isn't being friendly so much better than being an ass all the time?"

"Hey! I wasn't _that_ bad." Draco exclaimed defensively

"Care to be reminded of the time Granger hit you in the face for being an ass? Which was caused by the time that you were an ass to a hippogriff… That also reminds me of the time that you were an ass to Potter, which lead to…"

"Okay! Okay! I get it! Jeez." Draco whined to stop him from listing off every mistake ever, which he didn't doubt that Loki knew about. Wait…

"How did you know about that?"

"I'm a god, it's in the job description"

"Huh…" Draco mused, and with that they arrived in the dungeons.


End file.
